1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to appliances such as food appliances and, more particularly, to a control dial and ejector button for a handheld appliance such as a food mixer.
2. Description of Related Art
It is known in the art to provide handheld, electric mixers comprising a body that houses an electric motor and drive system with an integral handle so that a user may hold the mixer in his or her hand during use. Known mixers of this type have a pair of chucks or similar attachment means for selectively attaching mixer attachments such as egg beaters or dough hooks. The pair of chucks are driven by the drive system and, thus, impart rotational movement to the mixer attachments. Operation of such handheld mixing devices is effected through manipulation of one or more controls that are in a variety of forms. The controls control various functions such as on/off, speed, lock/unlock of attachments and the like.
Known designs have shortcomings in that the physical shape and arrangement of the controls are inefficient to use or occupy relatively large amounts of space. This causes inconvenience to the user of the device, and unnecessary expense in materials.
It is desirable, therefore, to provide a handheld mixer that overcomes the abovementioned shortcomings of known handmixers, and that achieves further advantages that are inherent to the embodiments described below.
These and other objects are achieved by the present invention described herein.